Juvenilia. An Apology.

Sometimes the words just flow out. Sometimes I write things I wouldn't normally say. Dagnabit, sometimes I've been a bit rude. Juvenile, even.

And so it's been with Canadian grandmother Denyse O'Leary. I've been rude towards her. And you know what? There's no excuse for that. Other than, I guess, that I'm human and I make mistakes.

Why did I get upset at Denyse? Well, it's a long story. If you know Denyse through her writing, you'll have you own opinion about her. She positions herself at the sharp end of the debate, so supposedly she expects a bit of flack. But juvenilia? Rudeness? Well.

Although O'Leary calls herself a "blogger", she doesn't allow open comments about what she writes. And so, it seems to me, she never has to address facts she doesn't like. She writes the same thing over and over again, making the same mistakes, ignoring the same problems.

You might think Denyse is just jam-packed full of wisdom. To me, her championing of "Intelligent Design" is based on a jumble of logical fallacies, factual inaccuracies and wishful thinking. To each his or her own, I guess.

What's that you say? Get to the point? That I can do.

Denyse O'Leary didn't ignore me entirely. She called my blog "the low end" of the debate. She said I portray myself as "incapable of a civilized argument". And, apparently, she spread the word. Over at the very laudable Free Mark Steyn blog, I came across this:

"...look at the kind of juvenalia Denyse has to put up with for defending her ideas. Look at the url, for example..."

Juvenalia? O noes!!!!!11eleventyone!!1!!!!

Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me...

It's OK, apparently, for Denyse to portray atheists as Darwin-worshipping amoral nihilists.

It's OK, apparently, for Denyse to pretend scientific differences of opinion are evidence against Darwinian Evolution when practically all of the scientists she mentions still accept Darwinian Evolution.

It's OK, apparently, for Denyse to dismiss the faith of Christians who accept Darwinian evolution.

It's OK, apparently, for Denyse to ignore the Conservative Christians who say "Intelligent Design" is bad science and bad theology.

It's OK for Denyse to plead persecution and then beg for more.

In short, it's OK for Denyse O'Leary to defame, misrepresent and damn everyone who disagrees with her... Yup, Denyse can do all of these things to "defend her ideas".

But me being juvenile... That's just too much to bear.

Well, Denyse, I apologise for being rude to you. We all make mistakes. I can't fix yours. I can only fix mine. I'll try harder in future to be civil.

As for Free Mark Steyn, I guess they didn't really mean to imply that it's OK for Mr Steyn to disrespect Islamic Fundamentalism, as long as he isn't "juvenile" about it...